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PROCEEDINGS 



CITY COUNCIL OF BOSTON, 



AIMMI. 17, ISia, 



ON OCCASION OF THE DEATH 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



PRESWEST OF THE IWITEff STATES. 




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BOSTON: 

PUBLISHF.n itY OKDKI: OF THE CITY COlINril 

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I'niiti'ii by 

.1. K. KAUWKLI- & COJITANV, 

.'ir (,'ongross Street, Boston. 



CITY OF BOSTON. 



April 17, 1865. 

A SPECIAL meeting of the City Council of Boston vvns 
convened at twelve o'clock this clay, by order of His 
Honor, Frederic W. Lincoln, Jr., INIayor, for the pur- 
pose of expressing their respect to the memory of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, the late President of the United States. 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF AlDERilEN. 

There were present at this meeting the Mayor and all 
the Aldermen. 

The Board having been called to order by the Mayor, 
he spoke as follovrs : — 

To THE HONOKAISLE THE CiTY COUNCIL : 

Gentlemen : Abraham Lincoln, the rresidcnt 
of the United States, expired at Washington on 
the morning of April 15, between the hours of 
seven and eight o'clock. The death of one so 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



distinguished, whose eminent services for the lust 
four years have been so valuable to his country, 
and whose individual opinions and actions were 
considered so vital to its future welfare, has 
filled the nation's heart with gloom. In the 
midst of the jubilant and excited feelings of a 
grateful people, bound to him with dearer tics 
than ever before in his career, his connec- 
tion with them has been suddenly severed by 
tlic violent hands of an assassin. The fresh joy 
of the recent glorious victories of our armies, 
securing, we trusted, i)eacc and prosperity to a 
reunited country, has unexpectedly been turned 
to mourning. 

The shouts of an exultant people are hushed, 
and the stern discipline of sorrow is once more 
to test their character and to prove their manhood. 
Called to the Chief Magistracy of the nation at 
a time of unexampled trial, when the Union of 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



our fathers was threatened with disruption by 
degenerate sons, the loyal spirit of the country 
responded time and time again to his patriotic 
appeals. Plis talents and his practical virtues 
seemed to develop and strengthen Avitli the new 
exigencies which called for their exercise ; and 
at the moment when success was crowning our 
efforts the great leader was summoned away, 
and his office and its great trusts fall upon 
another. 

President Lincoln's career will ever be con- 
sidered as one of the best illustrations of the 
cliai-actcr and nature of Republican institutions. 
He was emphatically a man of the people. 
Born in an humble condition, he was never 
tempted to rise by a sordid ambition for place ; 
but yet he was ever ready to meet public re- 
sponsibilities, when the country demanded his 
services. His merits as a statesman and patriot 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



have been tested in the most momentous period 
in the history of the RepubUc. Ilis integrity 
and worth as a man were seldom called in 
question while he lived, and now that he has 
gone his memory will be held in blessed remem- 
brance by his countrymen, and especially by that 
race whose shackles of slavery were broken 
during his administration, and who will cherish 
his name as that of their great Liberator. 

He has conducted us safely through the 
checkered career of the greatest civil war 
known in the history of the world ; and at 
the time of his decease his clear and honest 
intellect was engaged upon those great and 
difficult problems of statesmanship which, after 
such a conflict appertain to a condition of 
peace. At times when disaster befell our arms, 
or confusion attended our councils, and the 
timid were disposed to give up in despair, 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 11 



liKs fiiith never wavered in the iinal success of 
the cause — new difficulties aroused new ener- 
gies — and, relying upon the patriotism of the 
people, he moved on with a resolute will, in 
the work which Providence had placed in his 
hands for the salvation of the nation. 

The great responsibilities of his position, he 
bore with complacency and good humor. His 
physical frame, which was developed in early 
manhood, fitted him for the unparalleled labors 
of his public trust ; and his tragic death was 
caused by that fell spirit of treason and dis- 
loyalty, which, had it not been for his efforts, 
might likewise have been the death of the 
nation. 

The Republic has lost its ciiief officer; — 
every patriot feels that he has lost a personal 
friend. AVc finite beings cannot fathom the 
wisdom of the great calamity. He that ruleth 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 13 



over the nations of the earth must be our 
abiding trust. To the family of tlie late Pres- 
ident, our heartfelt sympathies and condolence 
should be tendered. 

In common with the whole nation, this com- 
munity joins in the general sorrow ; and in 
order that you may officially take that public 
notice of the event which the occasion ■ de- 
mands, I have called the members of the City 
Council together in special session. 

Your wisdom will suggest the most appro- 
priate manner for the city of Boston to honor 
the memory of the distinguished dead. 

F. W. LINCOLN, Jr., Mayor. 

At the conclusion of the Mayor's Address, Alder- 
niiin George W. IMessinCtER, Chairman of tlie 
Board spoke, as follows: — 

It is with no ordinary emotions, Mr. Mayor, 
that I rise to oflFer the resolutions pertinent 



DEATH OF TRESIDENT LINCOLN. 15 



to this occasion. The sudden shock which 
our entire community experienced at the re- 
ception of the astounding reports from Wash- 
ington; the mingled feelings of grief, of 
horror, and of indignation, have scarcely yet 
suhsided; the repose and reflectio^is incident 
to the Sabbath may have served to calm and 
tranquillize, but only to bring forth a more 
realizing sense of the irreparable loss which 
the nation has sustained by the death of its 
Chief Magistrate. 

At the very time when the rebellion appears 
subdued, when the days of battle are numbered 
and the horrors of war arc to give way to 
the blessings of peace, when the restoration or 
reconstruction of our glorious Union is so evi- 
dent, that great and good man, at the head of 
our nation, whose sound judgment and valuable 
counsels were so much relied on, is stricken 



DEATH OF rUESIDENT LINCOLN. 17 



down by the baud of the assassin. Witbout 
fiutber conuiR'ut. I uow submit the preamble 
and resolutions prepared by a joint connnittee 
of the City Council : — 

RESOLVES. , 

Whereas, in the Providence of God, the shadow 
of a great grief is now resting on the people 
of the United States, in the sudden death, by 
the hand of violence, of their beloved and hon- 
ored Chief Magistrate, Abraham Lincoln, now 
officially announced to the City Council by His 
Honor the Mayor, therefore, 

Resolved, 1. That in this early hour of the 
Nation's bereavement and sorrow, the greatness 
of our loss cannot be adequately expressed by 
words, but is evinced by the unspoken and unut- 
terable language of tlie heart, and the tears of 
millions of our loyal countrymen, telling how 



DEATH OF rUESIDENT LINCOLN. 19 



truly and affectionately he who was from the 
people, and loved the people, was loved by 
them. 

2. That we devoutly thank God for the noble 
work our loved and honored President was per- 
mitted to do for the nation, guiding it with 
consummate sagacity and skill through the most 
ditficult epoch of its existence ; that we recog- 
nize especially his great wisdom and foresight 
in issuing his proclamation of Emancipation, 
which will entitle him to the gratitude of the 
lovers of liberty throughout the world in all 
future ages, and give him a place in his coun- 
try's fame by the side of the immortal Wash- 
ington. 

3. That we accord to the family of our late 
Chief Magistrate our heartfelt and tender sym- 
pathy in their irreparable loss, assuring them 
that we cherish as one of our country's price- 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 21 



less legacies the memory of him whom the nation 
mourns. 

4. That the atrocious attempt to take the 
life of our Secretary of State, the Hon. William 
II. Seward, and the assaults on the members 
of his household, have excited the liveliest in- 
terest for his preservation; and we trust that 
his life may long be spared, and his valuable 
counsels continue to benefit his country. 

5. That we assure President Johnson of our 
cordial support in the great task devolved upon 
him by this horrible crime, entreating him to 
believe that the nation instructed by this last 
bitter experience, will sustain the Government 
more unitedly than ever in vigorous and effec- 
tive measures for suppressing a wicked and un- 
natural rebellion, in meting out justice to all 
its abettors, and securing the amplest guaran- 
tees for peace in all coming time ; trusting that 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 23 

he will not pause until every seed of its pos- 
sible life is destroyed, and our whole country 
rests on the sure basis of full and impartial 
liberty. 

6. That as a proper mark of respect, Fan- 
euil Hall and the City Hall be draped in 
mourning for the period of thirty days, and 
that on the day of the funeral ceremonies in 
Washington, His Honor, the Mayor order all 
public offices, schools and places of amusement 
to be closed, and request an entire suspension 
of business on the part of our citizens. 

7. That a delegation from the city govern- 
ment, consisting of His Honor, Mayor Lincoln, 
two Aldermen, the President and three members 
of the Common Council, attend the obsequies 
of the late President of the United States. 

8. That a eulogy ou the character and 
services of Abraham Lincoln be pronounced 



VEXTli OF niESIUENT LINCOLN. 25 

before the city government at au early day, 
and that a joint coniniittce be appointed to 
make the necessary arrangements. 

9. That a copy of these resolutions be sent 
to the President of the United States, the 
lieads of the different departments at Washing- 
ton, and the family of the deceased. 

The passage of the foregoing resolutions having 
been advocated by AlJennan Natlianiel C. Nash, 
with some appropriate remarks, they were iiiiaii- 
imoiisly adopted by the Board, each member rising 
in his place. 

The Chair having appointed Aldermen John S. Tyler 
and Charles F. Dana as a Committee in behalf of this 
Board to attend the Funeral Obsequies in Washington, 
and Aldermen George W. Messinger, John S. Tyler, 
and Thomas Gafiield u|)on tlie Committee of Arrange- 
ment for a Eulogy on the deceased, as contemplated in 
the eighth resolve, said resolutions were sent down to 



DEATH OF TRESIDENT LINCOLN. 27 



the Common Council for concurrence, and the Board of 
Aldermen then adjourned. 
Attest : 

S. F. McCLEAKY, Cluj Clnk. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL. 

The members of the Common Council were called to 
order by their President, William B. Fowle, Esq., who 
addressed them as follows : — 

Gentlemen of the Common Council : 

Were I to consult my own feelings upon this 
occasion, I should indulge in speechless sorrow ; 
but, as representatives of our fellow-citizens, it 
seems proper that we should ])lace upon record 
our estimation of the great and good man whose 
loss the nation mourns. 

Words are but feeble instruments to express 



deep grief; far better the sympathizing grasp 
of the hand and tlie eye glistening with the 
invohmtary tear. 

We respected Abraham Lincohi as the chief 
magistrate of our country, and as such alone we 
should have felt sorrow at his death, but we are 
now in mourning for more than the loss of the 
nation's head. 

Our country needed him. The marked ability 
with which he had steadied the helm through 
the long night of civil war, until the dayspring 
of peace seemed fairly opening to our vision, had 
taught us to look to him as the guiding star 
under whose benignant auspices all troubles were 
to cease. But deeper seated than even this is 
our grief to-day. 

He was cut off by a dastardly act in the midst 
of such usefulness as it has rarely been the lot 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 31 



of man to experience. We lament the cruel 
manner of his death, and our grief deepens at 
the thought that for us and in our service he 
died. But even this docs not sufficiently account 
for the gloom which rests upon us. 

Beyond the magistrate whose ability we re- 
spected, beyond the victim of the assassin, who 
died for us and whose untimely fate we deplore, 
beyond the loss of his services at a time when 
they were so sorely needed, we each and all of 
us have lost a dear friend ; a great, good, honest, 
noble-hearted friend whom we all loved. Our 
love for him is the great cause of our heartfelt 



grief. 



Upon our nation's roll of honor, side by side 
with that of the inuuortal Washington, let us 
place the name of Abraham Lincoln, and let us 
pray to the Supreme Ruler, that the exigencies 



DEATH OF rUESlUENT LINCOLN. '66 



of our coiuitiy may nevermore need tliiit a tlurd 
should be added to those two 

. . . . " immortal names, 
That were not born to die 1 " 

The messiige of the Mayor having been read, tlio reso- 
lutions adopted by tlie Board of Aldermen were then 
submitted to the Common Council. Tlieir passage by 
this brancli of the City Council was advocated by Messrs. 
Clement Willis of Ward 8, Joseph Story of Ward 5, Ben- 
jamin Dean of Ward 12, and Solomon B. Stebbins of 
Ward 10, who spoke most earnestly and appropriately 
on the subject. The resolutions were then passed unan- 
imously in concurrence, each member present rising in 
his place. 

Tlie Chair appointed Messrs. Solomon B. Stebbins of 
Ward 10, Benjamin Dean of Ward 12, and Moses W. 
llicliardson of Ward 11, delegates on behalf of the Com- 
mon Council to attend tiie funeral obsetpiies at Wash- 
ington. And tlie President of tlie Common Council, 
together witii Messrs. Josepii Story of Ward !), John 
C. Haynes of Ward 9, Sunmer Crosby of Ward 12, 
\Villiam D. Park of Ward 7, and Solomon B. Stebbins of 



DEATH OF rUESIDENT LINCOLN. 35 



Wan! 10, were joined to the Committee of Arrangements 
for tlie proposed eulogy on tlie illustrious deceased. 
Tlie Common Council then adjourned. 

Attest: W. P. GREGG, Clerh. 






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